Light sources used for communication are extremely secure due to the fact that they are focused within a narrow beam, requiring placement of equipment within the beam itself for interception. Also, because the visible spectrum is not regulated by the FCC, light sources can be used for communications purposes without the need of a license. Light sources are also not susceptible to interference nor do they produce noise that can interfere with other devices.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) may be used as light sources for data transmission, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,879,263 and 7,046,160, the entire contents of each being expressly incorporated herein by reference. LED technology provides a practical opportunity to combine lighting and communication. This combination of lighting and communication allows ubiquitous light sources such as street lights, home lighting, and office building lighting, for example, to be converted to, or supplemented with, LED technology to provide for communications while simultaneously producing light for illumination purposes.
Regarding office buildings, building management is a complex science which incorporates and governs all facets of human, mechanical and structural systems associated with buildings. As a result of the complexity, most commercial buildings are managed by commercial property management companies with great expertise. Both at the time of construction and throughout the life-cycle of a building, the interrelationships between people and the mechanical and structural systems are most desirably evaluated.
One very important area associated with building management is lighting or illumination. While often perceived as a simple task of providing lights, this seemingly simple task has much research and science behind a well-designed lighting system. This is because safety, productivity and general well-being of occupants depend heavily on proper lighting.
Many factors need to be considered at the time of construction or remodeling to facilitate proper lighting design. Intended usage of a space is important in illumination design considerations, since this will dictate necessary illumination levels, times and duration of use, and anticipated cycling of the illumination. The use of appropriate switches helps to reduce the energy required for a building to function with occupants, and simultaneously increases the life of many illumination components, such as light sources (light bulbs and equivalents thereto) since the light sources are only required intermittently.
Nearly all public buildings rely on a great many lamps positioned throughout the interior of the building, such as along hall corridors and in each room, and also about the exterior. These lights have historically been activated manually.
Another very important consideration associated with building management is energy management. The concern for energy management is driven by the expense associated with energy consumed over the life of a building. Energy management is quite challenging to design into a building, because many human variables come into play within different areas within a building structure. Different occupants will have different preferences and habits. Some occupants may regularly forget to turn off lights when a space is no longer being occupied, thereby wasting electricity and diminishing the useful life of the light bulbs. In another instance, one occupant may require full illumination for that occupant to operate efficiently or safely within a space, while a second occupant might only require a small amount or local area of illumination. Further complicating the matter of energy management is the fact that many commercial establishments may have rates based upon peak usage. A business with a large number of lights that are controlled with a common switch may have peak demands which are large relative as compared to total consumption of power, simply due to the relatively large amount of power that will rush into the circuit. Breaking the circuit into several switches may not adequately address inrush current, since a user may switch more than one switch at a time, such as by sliding a hand across several switches at once. Additionally, during momentary or short-term power outages, the start-up of electrical devices by the power company is known to cause many problems, sometimes harming either customer equipment or power company devices. Control over inrush current is therefore very desirable, and not economically viable in the prior art.
Energy management also includes consideration for differences in temperature preferred by different occupants or for different activities. For exemplary purposes, an occupant of a first office space within a building may prefer a temperature close to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, while a different occupant in a second office space may prefer a temperature close to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The first and second office spaces may even be the same office space, just at different times of day. For exemplary purposes, an employee working in a mail room from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. may be replaced by a different mail room employee who works from 4 p.m. until 12 a.m. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) demand or need is dependent not only upon the desired temperature for a particular occupant, but also upon the number of occupants within a relatively limited space
With careful facility design, considerable electrical and thermal energy can be saved. Proper management of electrical resources affects every industry, including both tenants and building owners. In many instances facility design has been limited to selection of very simple or basic switches, and thermostats, and particular lights, all fixed at the time of design, construction or installation.
Yet another very important area associated with building management is guidance control and indication, which impacts building security, as well as building convenience and efficiency for occupants. In buildings having many alternative hallways or paths, such as are commonly found in hospitals and other large public facilities, directions are often clumsy and difficult for visitors or emergency personnel to follow. Old-fashioned directories may be hard to locate or decipher, especially for speakers of a foreign language or for persons with little or no time, again such as emergency personnel. Consequently, some buildings provide color stripes along walls that serve as color coding to guide visitors to various areas within the building. Unfortunately, the number of color stripes that may be patterned is quite limited, and the expense and defacing of appearance associated therewith is undesirable. Furthermore, such striping does not completely alleviate confusion, and the color stripes can only serve as general guides to commonly visited areas.
Modern communications systems interconnect various electrical, electro-mechanical, or electrically controlled apparatuses. These connections may be referred to as connections between client devices and host devices. For the purposes of the present disclosure, host devices are simply parts of the network that serve to host or enable communications between various client devices. Generally speaking, host devices are apparatuses that are dedicated to providing or enabling communications. Peer-to-peer networks exist wherein, at any given moment, a device may be either client or host. In such a network, when the device is providing data, information or services, it may be referred to as the host, and when the same device is requesting information, it may be referred to as the client.
The host may provide connection to a Local Area Network (LAN), sometimes referred to as an Intranet, owing to the common use of such a network entirely within an office space, building, or business. The host may additionally or alternatively provide connection to a Wide Area Network (WAN), commonly describing a network coupling between widely separated physical locations which are connected together through any suitable connection, including for exemplary purposes but not solely limited thereto such means as fiber optic links, T1 lines, Radio Frequency (RF) links including cellular telecommunications links, satellite connections, DSL connections, or even Internet connections. Generally, where more public means such as the Internet are used, secured access will commonly separate the WAN from general Internet traffic. The host may further provide access to the Internet. Exemplary host apparatuses include modems, routers, switches, or other devices that may enable or secure communications with clients.
Client devices may commonly include computing devices of all sorts, ranging from hand-held devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to massive mainframe computers, and including Personal Computers (PCs). However, over time many more devices have been enabled for connection to network hosts, including for exemplary purposes printers, network storage devices, cameras, other security and safety devices, appliances, HVAC systems, manufacturing machinery, and so forth. Essentially, any device which incorporates or can be made to incorporate sufficient electronic circuitry may be so linked as a client to a host.
Most current communications systems rely upon wires and/or radio waves to link clients and hosts. Existing client devices are frequently designed to connect to host network access points through wired connections, fiber optic connections, or as wireless connections, such as wireless routers or wireless access points.
In the case of wireless routers a radio signal replaces the physical communications channel between clients and hosts with a radio channel. This advantageously eliminates the wire tether between client and host. Instead, client devices in a wireless system try through various broadcasts and signal receptions to find an access point that will have adequate transmission and reception, generally within a certain signal range which may range from a few meters to as many as several tens of meters. Depending upon the communications channel, a variety of client connection devices are utilized such as PCMCIA or PC cards, serial ports, parallel ports, SIMM cards, USB connectors, Ethernet cards or connectors, firewire interfaces, Bluetooth compatible devices, infrared/IrDA devices, and other known or similar components. The security of these prior art wireless devices can be compromised in that they are vulnerable to unauthorized access or interception, and the interception may be from a significant distance, extending often well beyond physical building and property boundaries.
More buildings are incorporating wireless networks where the networks are intended to reduce the need for wiring alterations and additions practiced heretofore. However, these wireless networks are not contained within the walls of a building, and so they are subject to a number of limitations. One of these is the lack of specific localization of a signal and device. For exemplary purposes, even a weak Radio-Frequency (RF) transceiver, in order to communicate reliably with all devices within a room, will have a signal pattern that will undoubtedly cross into adjacent rooms. If only one room or space in a building is to be covered, this signal overlap is without consequence. However, when many rooms are to be covered by different transceivers, signal overlap between transceivers requires more complex communications systems, including incorporating techniques such as access control and device selection based upon identification. Since the radio signal is invisible, detection of radiant pattern and signal strength are difficult and require special instruments. Further, detection of interference is quite difficult. Finally, such systems are subject to outside tapping and corruption, since containment of the signal is practically impossible for most buildings.
In addition to data communications, buildings and other spaces may also have a number of additional important needs including, for exemplary purposes though not limited thereto, illumination, fire and smoke detection, temperature control, and public address. With regard to illumination, buildings and other spaces are designed with a particular number and placement of particular types of light bulbs. Most designers incorporate incandescent or fluorescent bulbs to provide a desirable illumination within a space. The number and placement of these bulbs is most commonly based upon the intended use of the space.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. §1.56(a) exists.
All U.S. patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention, a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below. A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. §1.72.